Dulce Dolce

out of all the fashion weeks i find Milan to be the most fun – mostly because of my ever favourite italian design houses Marni, Prada and Missoni… but this year my favourite FAVOURITE favourite collection by far, ever, possibly in the history of all fashion weeks, was Dolce & Gabbana. which surprises no one more than myself because i’ve never been a big D&G fan.

just one quick glance over the entire collection and a myriad of things come to mind: summer holidays, the italian riviera, hammocks, umbrellas, summer heat, ripe fruit, cold drinks, seaside stripes – as if all the facets of a dream holiday had come together in one hot delicious melting pot wardrobe. and the best thing is that it’s all so wearable. the dresses have beautiful flattering silhouettes (tucked waists & flowing skirts! yes!) not to mention the detail that went into every fabric and every accessory (those shoes! those bags! those earrings!). holy MOLY guys, i can’t put into words how much i love this collection…

this is so nice…I’ve put the collection on my blog as well, as you say it is exactly mirroring beautiful Italy…and the work you’ve done is amazing, the idea, and the combinations of the colors on the garment and on the poster…great
Greetings from the sea
Lili Gabbianohttp://www.liligabbiano.com

You know, I loved this D&G collection too, initially. The colors, the materials, the stripes: they all felt so lush and romantic. But look closer and notice a few things. The collection is filled with prints (and earrings) featuring stereotyped racist caricatures of African women.

Granted, those images also fit in with the era D&G are romanticizing–they were a very real feature of that 19th and 20th century exotic (and erotic) idealization of sun and heat and lushness. But this a collection made today, by white men, to be worn exclusively by white women (no black models were featured during the show I believe), and decorated with images that harken back to a long heritage of European racism and white oppression.

If this was a political statement, it fell flat to me. But I feel fairly sure that D&G see nothing questionable in their use of those images at all. Looking closely at the clothes sure does reveal the luxury of those colors and materials, but it also makes my stomach start to turn. Would be interested to hear your take on this.

i did notice it, of course (and the lack of black models, which i found quite ridiculous). the collection is not entirely without context, D&G are said to have been inspired by Sicilian street fairs, heraldry, puppetry, Italian decorative arts, etc – which feature the kind of characters that are considered un-PC today (eg: Blackamoors). so, i can’t say what their intentions were – if they were trying to make a political statement or were simply “celebrating” their Italian heritage, warts and all, (or both?) …i’ve been reading about the backlash on some websites and someone pointed out that if they had used black models (actually wearing those prints, and those earrings) it might have been a non-issue. that said, those particular pieces didn’t sit well with me, which is why i didn’t include them in these mash-ups.